DIYbanter - View Single Post - Telephone will not dial out--the kind of phone with no AC power

terry

wrote:

I agree with to one responder.
Rule out bad phone.
Often times other devices (aka cheap junk) can affect the working of
other devices.
Go through your house and disconnect all the other things plugged into
all of your other phone jacks checking your new phone as you go.
The same thing happened to me.
Once I unplugged the bad device everything was fine.
Good luck..
..
Totally agree we once had a fireman complaining his phone would not
ring when he was called for emergencies.

The cause was two cheap phones that had been supplied as 'free gifts'
with magazine subscriptions by his two sons! Junk phones that damped
down the ringing on his line so badly that not only they but his
regular 'Telephone company' phone would not ring at all! Took them off
and everything went back to normal!

This not a criticism of the OPs 'good' phone but; 'Not all phones are
created equal' that's in quality or meeting reasonable standards of
ringing, dialling and transmission.

Also other gadgets such as FAX machines, voice announcers, certain
cheaply made (not always cheap to buy!) cordless phones, bedside radios
that incorporate a phone etc. There is a lot of junk out there that was
not manufactured to any particular standard. In most case the high
quality of the existing phone system manages to cope with them; but not
always.

Been there! Hard to tell some telephone customer that their fancy 'art
deco' whats-it phone bought on a back street in Istanbul or Paris is
terrible junk and not designed to suit North American standards
telephone network. The North American telephone system being for at
least the last 60 to 80 years the best in the world, so that we take it
for granted. But just try to make a phone call in some other countries;
or even get a phone installed etc. in less than months/years and
without paying a bribe!